A New Chance
by Aranel-o-Aduial
Summary: Merlin has discovered new things since attending Camelot Boarding School: friends, girls, parties, but most of all, memories. Are these flashes of the past real? High School AU. Now being rewritten.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes: Okay, start over. I said I would continue this, and I will, but I'm going to rewrite ****_everything,_**** meaning that there will be several changes, some of which will just be common sense. Sorry if I'm spamming your inboxes, but considering how much better I've gotten at writing, I don't think you'll mind too much.**

**This isn't going to be updated every day like it used to- instead, I'll upload as soon as possible, (meaning the chapter has been written and proofread,) and I'll aim for at least every week.**

**Anyway, technical stuff: No slash, modern AU, Arwen, Gwencelot, Freylin, and Mergana, as well as some different pairings on the side.**

**Anyway, now that that's done, enjoy!**

Merlin gaped as he stared up at the castle of a school.

Camelot High- boarding school, huge campus, and Merlin's new home. He had a feeling that he was going to enjoy this.

Merlin's uncle, Gaius, had put in a word with the headmaster at hearing of Merlin's... problems... back at home. Merlin frowned as he thought of how he was bullied because of his powers, which had gotten out in a bad... confrontation. He decided to not linger on such thoughts, and entered the school.

It seemed that being named Merlin wasn't enough, Merlin pondered as he took in the entrance hall, for fate had decided to make Merlin _special_. Merlin had no doubt to how his mother got his name, and she had even told him that several machines had broken as he was born. Merlin had had magic for as long as he could remember, and it wasn't very nice when people found out in this modern world.

'Weird.' 'Freak.'

Such were the names that Merlin was called by the residents of Ealdor. His magic had gotten out in a bad fight with the school bullies, and, because nobody dared not believe the school bullies, Merlin was suddenly an outcast. Will was the only friend that he had had.

Merlin considered himself lucky, though, as he was born in a time when magic users weren't feared, or even _known_. He was born in a time when magic users were simply _not believed in._ Magic was just a fairy tale, according to most people.

Well, Merlin was the proof to the contrary, wasn't he?

Merlin was momentarily distracted from his musings as he asked one of the students for directions to the school nurse. They pointed to a sign, and Merlin let out an "Ah," before heading off in the direction that it showed.

Soon enough, he came in front of the door that lead to the nurse's office. He took a breath and entered the office.

"Uncle Gaius?" he called as he entered, and apparently that was a bit too much, because the nurse whirled around to face him while on a ladder. A bad idea, to say the least, as his feet slipped and he came falling down.

Merlin acted on instinct, his eyes flashing as time slowed and a cot zoomed under the physician. His uncle landed with an "Oomph!" and stood up, turning to stare at Merlin.

"I- Um- What was that?" Merlin shouted, in a manner that even he would consider to be stupid. Gaius raised an eyebrow.

"I had heard of your talents, Merlin, but I've never seen them until now," Merlin's uncle said, and Merlin was reminded that his mother had told Gaius, and that his family member had seen him before. Merlin grinned. How could he have expected a harsh welcome?

"But you weren't supposed to get here until Wednesday," Gaius then said, and Merlin frowned.

"It is Wednesday," Merlin said, surprised at his uncle's forgetfulness.

"Ah, well, your dorm number is on your schedule, which is here. It arrived today, so I suppose I should have expected you," Gaius said, handing Merlin the schedule. Merlin took it, and then Gaius seemed to remember something. "Oh, and I suppose I should thank you, my boy," Gaius said, and Merlin grinned.

"No problem," he said, and then had a thought, "Er, do you need help getting that cot back into place?"

Gaius waved his hand, "Oh, I'll get someone else to do it. Now, how is your mother?"

...

Merlin spent a while in the nurse's office talking to his uncle, but then an injured student came into the office, and Merlin was shooed away. Merlin panted as he carried his suitcase up the stairs, not willing to risk magic to make it lighter. He didn't want it to get out before he had even started classes.

He was surprised at how big the school was- even though he had seen its size from outside, it seemed much bigger when you were heading towards the dorms with a suitcase, and Merlin thought that the entire village of Ealdor could probably fit inside of it.

Finally, Merlin reached his dorm, and pushed open the door, gaping as he saw the size of his new living quarters. He wandered inside, the weight of his suitcase forgotten as he stared around. There were four beds in the room, each with a bookcase and cupboard. Merlin quickly chose the one unoccupied bed, and despaired as he realized that the bookshelf next to the bed across from his was filled with sporting equipment. He had had problems with people like that at his other school.

As Merlin continued to examine the room, two pairs of eyes gazed at him from where their owners sat on two beds.

"So you're the new guy, eh?" said a voice, and Merlin turned to see a boy with a marvelous head of hair, one which made Merlin feel self conscious about. His ears seemed to stick out too much as he took in the handsome person sitting in front of him, grinning as he nodded sheepishly.

"Well, sorry, but you've got the wrong room," the boy said, and Merlin gaped. _What?_ He looked at his schedule, running over to the door and checking the number, then blushing as he heard the boy laugh. He turned around and gave the boy his best glare.

"Works every time! Sorry, mate," he said, seeing Merlin's glare, and grinning all the more because of it, "I do that to everybody. Just ask Lance here," Merlin managed to stop glaring long enough to look at the other boy, who gave Merlin a nod.

He was a tan boy, muscled, and his bookshelf was filled with sporting equipment as well, though he seemed nice enough for Merlin to not feel defensive. Merlin then noticed that the other boy's was filled with various costumes and plays, and realized that he must be in acting, something that Merlin was talented at. Merlin found that he couldn't glare at the boy anymore.

"My name's Gwaine, by the way," said the other boy, "What's yours?"

Merlin grinned at him, all thoughts of the prank that they had played on him forgotten. "Merlin," he said, and Gwaine laughed.

"Really? Like the wizard?" asked Gwaine, and Merlin forced a frown. Yes, he was good at acting.

"No, like the bird," said Merlin, and Gwaine looked confused before he barked a laugh.

"Nice one, Mer! I think I like you!"

Well, Merlin was thinking that he didn't like Gwaine as much as he did _before _that statement. "_Mer?_" he asked indignantly, and Gwaine grinned.

Lance decided to answer that statement for Gwaine, "Gwaine gives everyone here a nickname. My real name is Lancelot," he explained, and Gwaine looked at him.

"But everybody calls you Lance," he said, "See, my nicknames catch on!"

Lance frowned, "Well, not _most_ of them- what about Art and 'Gana? And Lee?"

Gwaine scoffed, "Well, how was I supposed to shorten _Leon?_"

"You could always just use his full name," Lance suggested.

"Well, that's no fun, is it?"

Then a blonde boy entered the room, took one look at Merlin, scowled, grabbed some of the sporting equipment off the shelf next to the empty bed, and left. Merlin frowned.

"Who was that?" he asked, biting back his original retort of _'Prat.'_

"That would be Arthur," Lance said.

Is everybody named after characters from the Arthurian Legend here?

thought Merlin.

"Don't worry- he's always like that to new roommates. I think the last person that roomed here transfered to get away from him. Don't worry," he added at seeing Merlin's uncertain look. "I'm sure he'll warm up to you."

Merlin frowned uncertainly and began unpacking. He just hoped that Arthur wouldn't find out about his magic, as that would certainly lead to disaster.

Though they lived in the city, so wouldn't he be considered crazy if he went parading around screaming _'witchcraft'?_ Merlin hoped so, and Gwaine seemed to hear his thoughts as his next statement was:

"His father's kind of a nutter, too. All '_anti-magic'_ and stuff, as if magic even exists. Sometimes I wonder who appointed him headmaster."

Merlin whirled around to look at Gwaine at this. "Arthur is the headmaster's son?" _And the headmaster's anti-magic?_

Gwaine looked at him like he was stupid. "Yeah, Arthur _Penn._ Uther Penn's son. He's head boy."

Merlin swallowed. He supposed that this meant he wouldn't be using magic in the corridors, and some insane part of him wondered when his life became so close to _Harry Potter_.

A long time ago,

retorted the sane part of him. He _was _a warlock, after all.

"Anyway," Gwaine continued, laughing, "You won't have to worry. It's not like you're magical or anything, Merlin!"

Merlin forced a laugh, though inside he felt worried. Gwaine grinned at him, though, and his worries vanished as he realized that he had just made a friend.

Yes, Merlin was looking forward to this year.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Okay, short chapter, but I typed this up really quickly so the few people who are following could have ****_something_**** this week. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ****_Merlin_**** does not belong to me.**

Arthur reentered the room later that night, and Merlin almost groaned as he set his sights on him.

"Who are you, anyway?" he said, and Merlin witheld a sigh. He was Head Boy, and he didn't know that he was getting a new roommate?

"Merlin." The look on Arthur's face turned somewhat amused.

"Merlin? Who names their kid that?" he asked, and Merlin frowned.

"My mother," he said, straining in his attempts to not jinx him. He didn't want to resort to such methods so early in his time there.

Arthur scoffed, but didn't say anything as he put his sporting equipment back on the shelf. Gwaine frowned, and Merlin remembered that the two were still there. He had almost forgotten.

Yep, definitely not jinxing him, then.

"Arthur, be nice," Lance said to the boy, and Merlin wasn't sure whether to frown at being protected or smile because somebody was defending him. He decided to keep his expression neutral.

"You're going to be spending the entire year with him, mate, you might as well get off on a good start," supplied Gwaine as Merlin pulled out a book and decided to ignore what was going on around him.

_Harry Potter_- The spells didn't work for him, but it was still enjoyable.

Arthur just scoffed again and finished putting his sporting equipment away, and stared at Merlin's book.

"Great, another Percival," he said, and then entered the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Merlin put his book down.

"_Percival?_" asked he, and Gwaine laughed.

"Complete bookworm. You'll meet him tomorrow," explained Gwaine, and Merlin said, "Ah," turning back to his book.

Arthur didn't say anything for the rest of that night, and Merlin got the impression that he was an introvert. He was wrong.

...

Merlin woke up to a voice calling his name. He was pretty sure that the voice was in his head, and that he had never heard it before, and thus was wondering whether he was going mad when the voice morphed into that of Lancelot.

"...Merlin! Wake up! You're going to be late!" said Lance, and Merlin shot up, almost colliding with Lance, who, thankfully, jumped back just in time. He ignored the sound of Gwaine's laughter and looked at the clock.

He had thirty minutes. Merlin got up quickly.

...and almost tripped on an item on the floor that he could've _sworn_ he had put on a shelf.

Merlin decided that he would have to find a way to quell his magic as he stumbled and cursed.

"It seems you're a restless sleeper," pointed out Gwaine once Merlin had regained his balance. "Maybe you're going to need to tape those items down. I don't even know _how _you knocked stuff off the shelf while you were sleeping."

There was a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke that told Merlin otherwise, and Merlin laughed nervously.

"Must've been my arms," said Merlin, and Gwaine shrugged and grinned.

"Yeah, you certainly were flailing. Were you having some kind of nightmare?"

Merlin scratched his neck. "Something like that," he said as he got out his clothes from the cupboard. He was aware of Lance's confused gaze on his back, and even more of Gwaine's amused and contemplative.

He set his clothes down on his bed and figured that he should clean up, as Arthur hadn't exited the bathroom yet. He was just grateful that his magic hadn't made more of a mess.

When he finished cleaning up, and Arthur _still_ hadn't exited the bathroom, he made his bed and picked up _Harry Potter_ again. Gwaine sighed and stopped watching him, picking up one of his acting scripts, and Lance picked up his homework to look over, even though Merlin was sure that he had finished it the night before.

Another thing that worried Merlin was that he was starting school in the middle of the year, and didn't exactly know what they were on in their classes. It could be anything from Winston Churchill to Trigonometry, and Merlin just hoped that he knew what they were teaching so he could have some free time instead of being tutored, not to mention the worry of being kicked out. He _was_ here on scholarship, after all.

Ron was just getting on Merlin's nerves by saying '_Merlin's pants!' _for about the five-hundredth time when Arthur _finally _exited the bathroom, and Merlin picked up his clothes and entered quickly.

He vaguely heard Gwaine say, "Done admiring yourself, princess?" as he shut the door and huffed with laughter. He could tell where Gwaine got the nickname from.

...

Gwaine had practically dragged Merlin to a table at breakfast to introduce him to his friends. Merlin didn't mind, as they were generally nice people. There was Gwen, Lance's girlfriend who was a very sweet girl and seemed to put her foot in her mouth a lot. Then there was Gwen's best friend Morgana, Arthur's half-sister, who seems to fancy the colors black and green, and Merlin, as she winked at him when nobody was looking. Then Percival, who was a complete bookworm, and Merlin found himself in a deep conversation involving _Harry Potter, _Boggarts, and what would happen if one was your greatest fear.

Lance and Arthur were currently sitting at a table with the fencing team, which included Owain, Marhaus, Gareth, Mordred, Lance, Leon, and Arthur, their captain, who currently had several girls fawning over him at the moment. Merlin learned they were Mithian, Elena, and Vivian. Surprisingly, Arthur was single, but from the way he was engaged in conversation with Mithian, not for long.

Merlin was wondering how many people in the school were named after Arthurian characters when Gwaine pointed to Gareth and said surprisingly, "That's my little brother."

He looked awfully proud at that fact, and Merlin gaped. "Really?"

"Yeah, youngest. He's just a freshman, but he managed to get on the team. I used to train with him," then Gwaine laughed, "We're evenly matched, it seems. I'm currently leading in the count of how many I've won against him, but, if he keeps going like that, it won't be for long."

Merlin frowned, "Then why aren't you on the team?" he asked, and Gwaine grinned.

"Oh, I'm spending my time in acting! Much better than fencing, if you ask me!"

In this conversation, Merlin learned that Gwaine had two brothers- Gareth and Gaheris, and that he was Morgana and Arthur's cousin, and had an uncle named Agravaine that was a teacher at Camelot High, and that he openly called a _creepy git. _From the description that the group gave, he wasn't really looking forward to his class.

Unfortunately, that was the class that he had first. _Geometry_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Sorry I'm late! Real life, you know.**

**Anyway, somewhat short chapter, but I'm guessing that most of the chapters'll be like that, as I find that I can't write as much for this story as I can for some of my others. Hopefully the quality makes the quantity okay.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****_Merlin_****.**

Merlin happened to have Geometry with Morgana and Gwaine, and he was remarkably relieved that he knew people in that class.

"But, unfortunately for you, Uncle Agravaine hates me and all things around me, including my friends," said Gwaine, and Merlin's eagerness was significantly dampened.

Then an eager-looking freshman saw Morgana, and started to head her way, grinning like a loon. Morgana scowled at him in an attempt to get him to back off, but that did little to stop him, so she grabbed Merlin's hand.

Merlin's surprise was evident in the flickering lights above them, and Morgana jumped and let go of his hand.

"Must be an electrical fault," said Gwaine, and Merlin smiled sheepishly at him.

"Yeah," he said weakly. Morgana sighed, alarm replaced by exasperation.

"I wish father would take better care of the school!" she protested.

The flickering lights didn't stop for a whole minute.

When they stopped, Gwaine grinned mischievously at Merlin, and they flickered once more.

...

Agravaine- or, as he was known by the respectful portion of the school, Mr. Cornwall- truly was a 'creepy git.' Merlin could tell this from the first step he took into the classroom and his black trench-coat came into view. To prove Merlin's theory, the first word out of his mouth was 'Class,' and was said in a manner that would give one the impression that he did not want to be there.

Judging by the quality of his clothes and the amount of hair grease he had on, Merlin could infer that he was quite rich, and, being related to the headmaster, probably only took the job because he was asked. He looked about fifty, and the light catching the grease on his hair gave one the impression of being dirty oneself.

The next few words out of his mouth were, "Open your books to page 394, please."

The word please was said with such distaste that Merlin felt violated. "Yes, sire," he muttered, but, unfortunately for him, Agravaine heard him.

Merlin guessed that he was lucky the punishment he got was a sickly smile and a bad reputation with him.

...

After Geometry, Merlin figured that he was right to anticipate that class to be bad. It was the most boring class he had ever had the displeasure of sitting through, and the way the teacher spoke as if _you'd better be happy I'm here because I could be doing better things than teaching vermin_ put him on edge.

But, on the upside, Merlin had his next class with Gwaine, and apparently Gwen.

On the downside of that upside, he also had his next class with Arthur.

...

Mr. Chaucer was a perfectly boring man that led a perfectly boring life and disliked any sort of drama in his class, so to say that he was displeased that the only empty seats were next to Arthur Pendragon when the new student was coming would be an understatement. He knew that Arthur had a hard time making friends, and an even harder time getting along with new people, so it wasn't that far a jump to guess that he didn't get along with his new roommate. Unfortunately, asking any of the students to move would cause drama, and we have already established that that is not what Mr. Chaucer wants.

His hypothesis about Arthur was proven by the face that the new student made at finding that he would have to sit next to the fencing captain.

He gathered even more evidence to his point when the two took to glaring at each other instead of paying attention.

Unfortunately, calling him out on that would cause drama, and we know Mr. Chaucer's opinion on that. He pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping that the class would end soon.

...

Merlin was glad when English was over, as not only had Arthur taken to glaring at him, but the teacher had as well- though not so much at him as at the both of them.

So, he basically spent an hour and a half being glared at by two people while he tried to work. He was glad that he didn't have that class tomorrow.

These thoughts ran through Merlin's head as he plopped down at the lunch table with the exclamation of, "God, I'm starving!"

There were several murmurs of agreement, though Morgana and Gwaine said, "Me, too!" loudly and caused most of the school to look at them. Gwaine took it in stride and sat down with a flick of his hair while Morgana glared defiantly at any who dared stare too long.

Then the stares finally died down, and Morgana sat next to Merlin.

Merlin then remembered the events of that morning, and his ears turned red. Unfortunately for him, most of the people at the table noticed.

Fortunately, Morgana launched a conversation before anybody could ask what happened, and Merlin joined in eagerly.


End file.
